Unperturbed, Kenneth Tong boasted to The Sun newspaper, 'People will know my name and that’s all that matters...My tweets aren’t offensive to the point where they are illegal. I’m not worried about the police coming to my door. I have the best legal team.'

Kenneth Tong, a Hong Konger, claimed to be a millionaire playboy when he first appeared as a late contestant on Big Brother (Series 10) as the psychopathic boyfriend of Karly Ashworth, he quit the show after being reprimanded for threatening Rebecca 'Bea' Hamill. Although his 15 minutes of fame expired three years ago, Kenneth has remained in the public eye by trolling the internet.

In 2011, he faced death threats after launching a pro-anorexia campaign on Twitter. His tweets included: “Don’t let the fat masses oppress you from your goals. You deserve a skinny body” and “To be thinner, skip dinner." After complaints by Rihanna and thousands of other Twitter users, Tong declared the campaign was a hoax, claiming it was a dare to prove he could become a trending topic on Twitter.

BBCZeitgeist Commentary: British Chinese that have encountered racial abuse in the UK will know that if a White person is offended by a Chinese person (even if the offending Chinese has not referred to the White persons race or nor his/her racial characteristics), the White person instinctively retaliates with Sinophobic racism. Examining the Twitter backlash against Kenneth Tong, whilst the majority of tweets have refrained from racial insults (perhaps the precedence of the Stan Collymore case acts as a deterrent), others have reacted more instinctively...

35 comments:

Judging from the two people in the middle they look like white trash, so no surprise that those comments are coming from them.

What Tong said was bad, sure, but from the mindset of a BBC, I can imagine most other BBC just following the crowd and going "yeah what he said was bad delete his twitter!" instead of caring about the retaliation from a lot of the public by being more sinophobic.

It's like with the incident of the baby being run over in China last year.

since I started blogging a year and half ago, the fact this desperate troll is the perhaps the only visible heterosexual ethnic Chinese male living in the UK that has made any impact on the British celebrity news scene speaks volumes about the non-existent position of the Chinese male within British society. He is misbehaving in an extremely westernised British manner with his trolling tweets not much different to Lily Allen or Frankie Boyle and yet even this is not acceptable, how is the Chinese male suppose to make any impact if not by being a complete prick? Isn't this what British people want?

Tong is a prick that made sick jokes about a baby. He is disgusting but the reactionary abuse from these whites has been worse, resorting to racism and THREATS OF VIOLENCE when Tong did neither. Unless Tong himself was being violent or racially abusive, let's focus on the ones who made those initial threats - not Tong, but Wilson, Garrad and Sage. What is to say when drunk (or on a bad day) they won't just pick an ethnic Chinese (because "we all look the same") and lay "retribution" as threatened by them vs Tong? We need to stop such a possibility from happening. And that means getting the police in. We'll see how well this goes, how they treat racial incidents on social websites when it's directed against ethnic Chinese as opposed to blacks or asians.

Does anyone get offended? Most whites would see it as normal and most sellout Chinese would lick his arse.

Re Barlows baby, and anorexia, its no less than what the DM crank out on a daily basis against Chinese.

If he really is a Millionaire ( is he?) then I cant imagine he would bother with trolling the internet to get attention. However I disagree that he is behaving in a 'westernised way'. So what is a 'Chinese way' to make an impact in the west?

If anything more ( British ) Chinese males need to be seen to act in a cocky way to show Chinese masculinity in public - and until BBCs and Chinese continue to endorse the lame online culture that we have instead of celebrating who we are, I dont have a problem with what Kenneth Tong is doing.

If anything, he needs to tweet back in his own way, exactly what some one said below:

'Imagine if a white said something vs a Chinese person, completely not related to race, and all the Chinese would say as a response is racial insults'

If anything, apart from being seen with a white girl, he is a proud Chinese. I cant see any reports of him attacking Chinese people btw, but then british media probably wouldnt give a shit about that.

Happybritishchinese, whilst I understand where you seem to be coming from, but coming from a female viewpoint, I don't like seeing people like Analisa Ching doing what she does, and judging from the short time I've been on this blog, many BBC males also have little sympathy for her expoits.

Your comments seem quite depressing reading when it's now a BBC male doing all the media whoring thing. Surely to fight this disgusting attention seeking culture that has infested this country via planned/staged "look at me" acts, you wouldn't want to join in to make a point??

The tweets by these racist thugs are not acceptable, and no doubt, in time, they will be removed. To be fair, anyone of colour is often subjected to racial attacks. Where celebs are quite minor like that of Tong, there is less vetting and checking which is what some might be confusing with some top footballers. It's more about top people having extra security rather than comments being accepted by Twitter. SF.

Kenneth Tong is a whore because he sends offensive tweets and Analisa Ching is a whore because she poses for tabloids in the nude saying stuff like she wants to perform nude for white members of the monarchy? I think its to varying degrees.

One is playing up to racist stereotypes in mainstream media ( tabloids and TV shows) the other is just being arrogant and using twitter to screw around with.

If he was wanted to be really malicious or attention-seeking wouldn't he do something more than just 'tweet'?

He's using his minority status to have a stab at white celebs and in the case of anorexics, possibly mock women who think looking like a rake is healthy. Thats his business. The fact they are using that as an excuse to call him a 'chink' instead of an 'arsehole' just shows that these whites cant handle it.

Correct me if i'm wrong but if left Big brother in 2009, and was only on briefly, isn't he old news? Does anyone still care about Kenneth Tong anymore? I didn't even know his name until I found out it was 'the Chinese guy with the white girlfriend who appeared on big brother'

And If someone can answer me what 'the chinese way' to make impact /fight in the western world without being a prick is, i'll gladly listen, but so far noone's answered me yet.

Tweet in Cantonese scathingly? To a white celeb? Maybe a tweet, using some selected Cantonese if done stylishly. Anything else?

If your issue is 'should Chinese males make an impact' in the western world, thats another topic altogether, but as I said in my previous comment, Chinese males in britain have a lame culture, and until we want to make an actual effort to change that, we'll get get gok wan and this z-list celeb and shouldn't complain about it.

Happybritishchinese, not at all about whether Chinese males should be making an impact in the western world. The media is not that interested in Chinese men because many of the upper echelons of media execs are pervy males, and they'd much prefer to fill their shows with Chinese/Oriental looking women, hence the stereotype of women strangely more accepted into the western setting, via their sexuality.

Other posters are commenting about how do BBC men get more noticed. But I have two questions. In the science world, many of the people can be Chinese, but the mass media are not interested in that world. Does that mean no progression for BBC men? Do you a BBC want a more common BBC being accepted into the mainstream? If so, then it's likely to start with Kenneth Tong. And probably end with Kenneth Tong.

Thanks Kenneth.

Maybe it's just me. His over smugness and over-estimation of himself gives him away as being more trashy than a man of meaning. Personally, I felt he could have picked on a host of things in the celebrity world, but I fear he picked the wrong one. I really would choose Gok Wan over Tong. If I didn't respect Abi Titmus as a celebrity, because of how she suddenly gained fame, then I'm unlikely to respect Kennth Tong. SF.

he doesn't represent us, most whites except for the retards don't think that.... but more damaging is that whites are willing to racially abuse despite the "victim" not resorting to race in the first place

BBCZeitgeist, I have not Googled Tong, but if he's not a BBC, then fair enough. What do you mean by is it OK to attack interracial relationships? Are you talking about others that Tweet in response to his recent actions or you attacking Tong?? SF.

BBCZeitgeist, it's Tong's choice. I don't have anything against it. If he prefers to date or be seen in public with a caucasian looking female, it's his choice. I can insert a line in there to comment on what I think and why I believe he 'might' be dating someone outside of his race, but that's analysing.

I'm more concerned with Tong's wannabe tendancies. The only reason he is still enjoying what's left of his fame is due to his Big Brother status. If not, I think he'll be seen as a criminal. Lumped along the likes of Sueng-Hui Cho, since many can't tell the difference between a Korean to a Chinese-Malaysian. Sadly made famous by late Wendy Richards, another former Big Brother contestant when she infamously lablelled Chinese people as having inscrutable faces. SF.

I would put that higher up than making fun of a dead unborn child and animal cruelty. Please note I rate animal cruelty much further down the taboo list, but I guess Daily Mail readers will put that higher up than ethnics' human rights. A cat has more rights than an Afghan national seeking asylum here, according to their average reader.

Are you trying to sing your own praise on not getting the same aggro as Tong, or are you going to use this opportunity to discuss his interracial relationships? I'm not following...SF.

offensive internet jokes about a child...as you said = NO! thats not ok!offensivve racist internet jokes about Chinese people = YES! thats ok!internet death threats against Chinese people such as Kenneth Tong= YES! thats ok!

Welcome to Britain, where even the law treats Chinese people as second class citizens.

BBCZeitgeist, Whilst I welcome your point there, but the delicate matter is April Jones may or may not be alive. Racial hatred will always come second agianst these cases involving kids.

If you followed the recent matter regarding John Terry, you will see that even his club at board level decides to support him against the recent FA rulings.

In a normal setting, you would think that usage of vulgar and racial slurs such as the words used by Terry, you would get the sack, instead, the club continues without even bothering to reprimanding him. Then he's helped by the useful tool that is Ashley Cole, it completes the picture of how Britain is slowly growing tired of the words racism. If a mixed race footballer can't have total justice, where do the Chinese stand?? SF.

He's a cunt, but I was wondering about the backlash against him based on race. And it is there, surprise. If Tong had been racially abusive, then it would have been understandable. But the fact is that simply because he is a twat - not racist - it allows whites to be racist twats.

Imagine if a white said something vs a Chinese person, completely not related to race, and all the Chinese would say as a response is racial insults?

interestingly about Cameron Garrod, he tweets about black football players and calls them by their name (shock!), without the racial slurs. Which is further proof that many whites aren't racist... just racist towards us.

@Anonymous 01.14, correction there. They are still racist, but know that it's culturally not acceptable to do it. The only place left is amongst family and close friends to speak their mind, which is why it's seen as 'fair game' or acceptable to keep using the words "chink" so easily. Be sure that visually curbing someone from tweeting it results in cry-baby headlines like "PC gone mad." That's where it really originates from. SF.

Guyswe do make an enormous impact!In the scientific world, we have contributed massively to the advance of sciences. Just look at the number of scientific publication with chinese, vietnamese, etc... names!The oriental male can do it, while preserving our dignity. Do not give in to provocations and do not side with this Kenneth Tong, who is (as BBCZeitgeist quite rightly said, a complete prick!

We We move in higher circles than that of the average Joe. This says something about our achievement.So, don't lower ourselves to the level o these white trash.

Peter Tong is created by the media to generate an 'interest'. He is the grotesque evil figure for other to justify their racist rants. It is ironic that the word 'chink' has been so abused by so called BBC media personality that these racists will probably get away with their abuses.

What high circles are you referring to that we are in? That we have Chinese lawyers, doctors, scientists, accountants and basically all the model minority careers?

If he's really a hate figure created by the media, then in terms of the timing of racist tweets, straight after the olympics ( timing again), then that means everything is orchestrated....that's pretty damn low.

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